Everybody, without exception, should read Easterbrook's work every Tuesday. Even if you skip the football parts, you've still got an entertaining and insightful 2,000-word column about pop culture, politics, society and world affairs. The football parts add about 3,500 more words on top of that, and this week many of those words are about the Vikings!—JM

What to do when you and your spouse have different political beliefs? Well, if you're like me, you can just take solace in the fact that she's never followed politics closely at all, so that's why she votes wrong.—JM

This time next week, I'm sure we'll have plenty of lies from Obama's convention to add to the list, but the point isn't who lies most – it's how, why, and what, if anything, should be done about it. Fascinating read.—JS

Children who don't grow up living with both of their married parents "are more likely than similar children with married parents to experience childhood poverty, act up in class, become teenage parents and drop out of school." As Norm Macdonald used to say, you can read all about this study in the medical journal "Duh."—JM

Not particularly condemning, this is the first really interesting thing I've read about Mitt Romney. He still comes across as a privileged, awkward guy with a pedestrian sense of humor, but this is far more three-dimensional.—TG

This is my way of passing this link along to co-contributor Joe Mulder, who shares Maher's disdain for the Pussy Apology. I'm offended on behalf of Mitt Romney, who may seem like a bland, milquetoast panderer, but took a strong stand on the issue that really matters: tree height.—JS

As the Post Office heads toward bankruptcy, I'm reminded of this clever rant – and, most importantly the "Swiss model", which might save the day if special interests had not ossified our political process against any kind of sweeping change.—JS

Most people have photo IDs. Maybe states that want to require photo ID for voting could provide, free of charge, special voter IDs to the tiny percentage of citizens who want, but who don't already have, a driver's license, passport, or some other form of photo ID. See? Problem solved, controversy over.—JM

Remember those billionaire libertarians who wanted to build their own tiny nations on floating platforms out in international waters? PayPal founder Peter Thiel is one of them, and he makes the idea sounds more "intriguing" than "wacky."—JM

I talked to a guy this weekend who argued – and seemed honestly to believe – that the wealthy are the most underprivileged and vulnerable people in America. And I love this guy a lot, but... Jeebus.—JS

I found this rumination on political philosophy by Googling, on an absolute whim, a particularly silly line from a years-old episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" that I'd just watched in reruns. God bless the internet.—JM

Obviously this is insane. But it's also a really fascinating discussion-starter about the post-labor economy. What will work be like when we have robots for everything (including the manufacture and maintenance of robots, and defense against robot uprisings)?—JS

Are you sitting down? Christopher Hitchens is no great fan of the royal family. Although to be honest his main beef seems to be with the concept itself; he goes surprisingly easy (well, for him) on the Queen and her progeny.—JM

Adams calls these the "bad versions" of the ideas, to get the ball rolling, but I (a dirty, lefty hippie) am on board with all of them. Especially the idea of extra votes – we've already implemented that one!—JS

You should read any and all Gregg Easterbrook pieces that you can get your hands on, whether it's something like this or one of his weekly "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" football columns on ESPN.com.—JM

Yeah... I forgot to look for links, and it was my day to do links. I was up really late. But here: TMQ is like half football and half random miscellaneous fascinating stuff, so even if you're not a sports fan there's plenty here to like.—JM

I feel like Mark Steyn could sit down and talk about this with Adam Carolla for like twelve straight hours until both of their heads exploded. Any Californian knows all about this topic, undoubtedly.—JM

Apparently some Democrats are worried that the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally in D.C. will hinder "Get Out the Vote" efforts for Election Day the following Tuesday. Sigh. Sometimes supporting the Democrats feels like betting on the Washington Generals.—BK

"Internal NFLPA studies have shown that only 33 to 40 percent of hardcore NFL fans have the impending labor drama on their radar screens." I would submit that if the impending labor drama is not on your radar screen, then you are clearly not a hardcore NFL fan.—JM

In the age of Hallliburton and Blackwater, you'd think Eisenhower's "military-industrial complex" speech would get more play when it's time to beat the deficit drum. (Okay, that's hopelessly naïve, but anyway...)—JS

A brief update on the latest tempest in the Net Neutrality debate – entertaining for the number of times it's mentioned that regulators negotiate with the industry they're regulating, or the industry agrees to regulators' level of authority.—JS

"Evolution favored meat-eating primates, enlarging their brains and enabling them to live in more and more complex and survivalist societies that today extend our life spans, provide genteel habitats, and produce philosophers who have the wherewithal to object to the very components of their own existence."—JM

I like the optimism, that government could do a better job managing the disaster, or that Americans would believe it could. But what does Obama have to lose? Most people either blame him for the spill already, or assume he's plotting to take over every major company.—JS

As tiresome and needlessly divisive as the red-state/blue-state map is, it turns out you can use it to predict the stability of families pretty well, and the results may surprise you. (You can read an excerpt from the book in question.)—JS

Apparently, most retailers specifically forbid employees from preventing theft. You know, things in this country didn't used to be perfect (pervasive racism, women being relegated to second-class status, etc.), but I feel like "stopping a robber from committing a crime" didn't used to be grounds for termination.—JM

91-year-old, 500-word poems aren't normally the kind of thing we feature here, but I haven't read anything in years that affected me like this and I really needed to share it. Honestly, from now on, if anybody ever wonders why I, personally, see the world the way I do, I can just direct them to this poem. I can't believe I just now read it; somebody should have shown this to me in high school.—JM

"Back when she'd just accused wealthy white Duke students of rape, lawyers were volunteering to work for her pro bono should she want to sue for damages. This time around, with a case that's less financially promising, she's relying, according to WRAL.com, on a public defender." Sad, but not surprising.—JM

A fascinating excerpt from the new book Game Change that reveals the sordid dysfunction inside the John Edwards presidential campaign, and offers yet another lesson in the folly of buying into the public image of any famous person.—BK

I'm not quite convinced, although the following passage is very interesting indeed: "Who the Republican candidate is, and his or her qualifications and abilities, will matter only if Obama's approval rating is between 47 and 51 percent going into the fall of 2012."—JM

A.V. Club also has personal faves Ricky Jay and Richard Dawkins this week, but we've agreed not to overlink the same site too much and Levitt's the one debunking the TSA, rethinking the response to global warming, and talking about penis size. Advantage: Levitt!—JS

A thoughtful piece about Glenn Beck (not that Jon Stewart's sillier work on the subject hasn't been excellent). Includes a nice parallel to the great Andy Griffith movie A Face in the Crowd (which inspired the Gabbo Simpsons episode).—JS

Basically: anything useful. But you probably already knew that, since all available evidence shows intelligence obtained under torture is unreliable. (Otherwise, we'd have Al Qaeda right where we want 'em!)—JS

Granderson doesn't name names, if you're looking for that sort of thing, but he tackles an issue that I've long seen as a very important one. Fortunately, I don't think we're too far away from pro athletes being openly gay, and having it not be a big deal.—JM

The Yale University Press has decided to publish a book about the Danish Mohammed cartoon controversy... without reprinting the actual cartoons. And the prognosis for the 21st century gets ever-so-slightly more bleak.—JM

Other than the mountains of irrefutable evidence that Barack Obama is a natural born United States citizen, what evidence do we actually have that Barack Obama is a natural born United States citizen? One patriot dares to ask the tough questions...

"Politicians will, almost by definition, be deeply weird." It seems to me that I remember Jerry Seinfeld doing a routine along these lines once, too. And, if you think about it, if any of your buddies pulled you aside one day and said "I've decided that I'm honestly and seriously going to try to become the President of America," you'd think he'd gone completely nuts. And yet, every four (or eight) years, one guy does it.—JM

I just read this piece because I was curious to see if she'd mention Abdulhakim Muhammad (formerly Carlos Bledsoe), the American Muslim convert who shot and killed a US soldier outside an Army recruiting station in Little Rock last week. And guess what: she doesn't bring him up. Shocking, I know. Too bad, too, because ignoring him sort of undermines her argument, which isn't entirely without merit.—JM

For Memorial Day, your requisite dose of "freedom isn't free." True freedom, of course, involves even the freedom to take for granted the sacrifices of those who came before, and unfortunately that's a freedom of which I occasionally avail myself.—JM

A popular liberal president who has freely admitted his own youthful drug use could certainly help move this country's attitude toward marijuana legalization further in the right direction. If he had any balls whatsoever, that is.—JM

A talk with Jeff Dowd, the real-life inspiration for The Dude character in The Big Lebowski. If you're not interested in his experiences being a part of the Seattle Seven in the 70s, you can find the Lebowski stuff about halfway down the page.—BK

Joe and I don't always agree – as Isaac (Robert Guillaume) said on Sports Night, if you're smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you. Last Friday was like Isaac Day here at Poop Reading.

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is apparently part of a movement that believes Shakespeare's plays were actually written by Edward de Vere, the 17th earl of Oxford.
As for me, MTV's "The State" had Shakespeare himself admitting in a throwaway line at the end of a particular sketch that "Christopher Marlowe wrote all my plays," so that's what I choose to believe.—JM

(this blurb should not be taken to mean that Kent Hrbek is getting gay married to a guy named Chuck. I mean, I haven't specifically heard that he isn't, but, in this particular case, I think we can take the absence of any evidence that he is to mean that he is not)

In the first paragraph of this piece, Joe Klein offers up what may in fact be the best idea any human being has ever had. Better than fire, better than cars, better than WrestleMania. He goes on to make the standard case that pot should be legalized, a case that – for my money – can't be made often enough.—JM

A guy who knows from the wrath of Jon Stewart weighs in. Unsurprisingly, Tucker Carlson has some critical things to say about "The Daily Show" host, some of which need to be said. Still, it'll always be fun to watch Jon Stewart yell at people.—JM

There are so many generalizations in this piece that, if you ever went to grad school, your brain will actually liquefy and drip out of your nostrils as you read this. You just won't be able to handle it. And the generalizations are pretty much right on, too, which will only make you madder.—JM

My daughter is really into Enchanted these days, which I bring up because I can no longer watch Timothy Spall in that movie without immediately thinking of Christopher Hitchens (and vice versa). Here, he (Christopher Hitchens, not Timothy Spall) offers an enjoyable, patriotic and – since it's Hitchens – cheeky take on the Obama inauguration.—JM

Also, on Tuesday, he started talking right after "I, Barack Hussein Obama," stepping on the Chief Justice's "...do solemnly swear." Apparently I'm the only person who remembers this, but, I'm positive George H. W. Bush did the same thing in 1989.—JM

You see these giant, multi-story ads on the sides of buildings in Los Angeles, and I always thought, "boy, I would think it would be annoying to work in one of those offices." Turns out it really is.—JM

Barack Obama, Bill Kristol, David Brooks, George F. Will and Charles Krauthammer sit down to dinner together... no, that's not the setup to a dirty joke whose punchline involves sodomy. It's what happened last night in Chevy Chase, MD.—JM

The New Yorker's presidential endorsement may be an obvious one, but it's excellently stated. If "associations" are really such a huge liability, can one do worse than George W. Bush? Jameson (and the New Yorker) thinks not.—JS